Chapter 23: Ghost Spirit Cave Heaven

  "The Ghost Sun Blade has appeared in the Netherworld, all because of your reckless behavior. The Spirit Blade has emerged, but it's also brought about such a bloody storm, and that's also because of your mischief. Now, what are you going to do?" the woman said.

  "Who the hell are you? I've always hated it when people turn black and white upside down. It's clear that you're the one who got lost, but now you're blaming us." Old Qian was getting angry again.

  "Don't be rude, this is our Guilin Cave Master Ling Miao Ran. If the cave master didn't want to add another bloody case in the mortal world, you two would have become bones by now." A woman beside him glared and replied quickly.

  "It was originally peaceful, but now it's being disturbed and relocated. This is the root of all this. What has been calm for thousands of years is now chaotic in just a few days. You should think carefully, isn't this all because of what you've done?" The woman spoke slowly and clearly, one sentence at a time.

  If that's the case, then it's still worth what we're fighting for, but not quite. Old Qian and I are just executors. But at this point, there's no use explaining these principles to these ghosts. Anyway, things have come to this, so we'll just have to push on.

  "I admit that the Ghost Sun Blade was born because of me, but my original intention was not to open up slaughter and killing. It seems that everything in this southern village, including the Wind Dust Residence deceiving me into becoming a blade, were all manipulated by you." I said.

  "Hmph, that heartless person who doesn't know the height of heaven or the thickness of earth still wants to compete with me for the Spirit Blade. I'm going to make sure this scourge is settled once and for all, let's see how he can wriggle out of this!" Ling Miao Yan coldly sneered at the wretched person.

  My goodness, I suddenly opened up a bit, oh my, what's going on, it always has to do with this word "love". The master of the Moonlight Forest has turned into white bones due to jealousy over love. And this beautiful woman in front of me, who looks like an immortal goddess, also spoke such heartbreaking words from her mouth. It seems that she too was tied up by a thread of love and couldn't let go, covering it up in her heart until it became a kind of resentment.

  I know that this kind of hatred is the most stubborn and unsolvable. As a mortal, I understand that it's impossible to reason with this kind of woman.

  Surrounded by dense white bones, how can there be so many bloody cases out of thin air? What's to be done about this?

  I thought of my body, but it was suddenly brought into this dark realm, and because of the spiritual blood, everything was turned upside down. Tears suddenly welled up in my eyes. Old Qian saw me like this and his heart was also filled with sorrow. He muttered to himself, "Damn, I didn't even get to take a sauna, but now I'm stuck here and can't leave. They've even pinned a false crime on me. You're even more wronged, thinking of doing things right, but it's all going so badly. Screw it, Li Xin, speak up, we'll fight this woman to the end, damn her."

  Old Qian said, my heart is even more miserable. Indeed, Old Qian's words are reasonable. Originally, there was no trouble, but it was made into a big deal, and it's so troublesome. I'm the one who's been wronged the most. Qing Shan Dao Zhang has also disappeared without a trace, and Li Yan is nowhere to be found either. Only I am left to struggle alone, I am the most miserable person in both the yin and yang realms.

  Thinking of this, my nose turns sour, my eye sockets tighten, and tears gush out, icy and piercing to the bone, with a miserable feeling in my heart.

  Just at this moment, in the flash of lightning, before I could react, I heard a loud shout beside me, "Cave master, true feelings bring tears, hurry up!"

  It was the voice of that little rogue who had been standing by, damn it, I thought this was a living dead person, but he has been observing me all along. I thought it was to escort that old Dao, but the real purpose is actually to watch me, another unexpected move, beyond my expectation.

  Just as I was crying and my heart was in a mess, thinking about it more and more made me cry even harder. Suddenly, I saw two delicate women in white clothes moving quickly in front of me, carrying a crystal clear jade plate together. In an instant, they flew to my face, holding the plate under my chin. Strangely, before my tears could fall, they all flowed into the plate with a gurgling sound.

  I had a sudden impulse and instinctively wanted to dodge, but my body was as if trapped, and I could only let the tears fall, like pearls splashing in the jade plate, sparkling with crystal clarity.

  After a while, the tears were all gone, and the two women's figures fluttered again to Ling Miao Ran's side. They bowed their heads and handed the plate over to Ling Miao Ran, saying: "Cave Master, the true emotions have been collected, please inspect them clearly."

  "Ahahahaha! Li Xin, I didn't expect you to be a true-blooded man after all. Your nonsense just now was quite impressive, and you even managed to create a fake image. Since you've moved me with your genuine tears, I won't hold it against you this time. Listen carefully, you have two paths to choose from, don't say I didn't warn you."

  As they spoke, the delicate silk danced lightly in the air, and suddenly a gentle breeze arose, the moon shone brightly, and before their eyes everything was bathed in a soft light.

  In a flash, oh mother, where is that old Taoist, where is that Luo, and where is the Wind Dust Residence? Only I and Old Qian are standing on the construction site. The group of women in front of me were indeed real, but the dense white bones around us had disappeared. It turned out that everything was an illusion, a clever scheme set up by Ling Miao Yan, with the purpose of deceiving my tears.

  "One path is for you to follow me to the Ghost Spirit Cave, where there's something that requires your attention. The other path is what you saw earlier - an illusion. If you don't allow it, I'll make it a reality, and you won't be able to escape the consequences. What will you do?" Ling Miao spoke softly, but her beautiful eyes gleamed intensely as she stared at me. This wasn't a choice, but rather a form of coercion.

  Damn it, I've walked into this circle step by step. I thought I was clever, but every step I took fell into someone else's trap. She knew I wouldn't cry easily, and she wouldn't push me to desperation unless there were true tears to be shed. But what the hell is she up to? Does she want my precious tears or something? My tears are indeed precious because I rarely cry. I cried once when Yu Zhen cheated on me and left, and again when Li Yan died for me and I begged Qing Shan Dao Zhang to bring her back. That's it. All I have now is anger. Damn it, this underworld's hidden rules are pissing me off!

  "I said: 'I've given you tears, what more do you want? Is this a choice? You're forcing me.'"

  Lao Qian also said with a wow: "That's right, that's right, we two old men are still respected by others in front of and behind people, it's you who forced me to be forced."

  She smiled lightly and said, "I'm forced to do so. When others force me, you don't see it. In the world's affairs, both yin and yang are not exceptions. Who can say they are absolutely fair?"

  That's also right. There's no point in continuing this conversation. I just said: "Don't hurt my friend, go if you must."

  I said to Lao Qian: "It can't be helped, buddy, don't be afraid."

  "I'm afraid of her mother, it's not your mother-in-law, I would have taken care of her long ago." Old Qian has always been stubborn like this.

  It's mysterious yet unreasonable. With a wave of his hand, a faint melody floated in, the fragrance assailed the nostrils, and a white shadow danced before his eyes. Good heavens, it was like a paradise of spiritual immortals, making the construction site incredibly romantic.

  Time flies, and with the surging of the white waves below, what appeared before us was a vast expanse of openness. A strange mountain valley unfolded itself in front of us, while inside the valley, there were floating mists, fragrance and music drifting from within.

  She seemed to have seen me nodding in agreement, but she was smiling softly and walking towards me as if she had changed into a different person. Ah, let me think for a moment... damn, she's really beautiful! Her figure, her posture, she must be around 178cm tall, wrapped in white gauze, with twin peaks standing proudly, a slender waist like a willow branch, and round thighs that go straight down. What a perfect beauty, how could she be a ghost? If ghosts looked like this, then it's true what they say: "to die under the peony flowers is to live a life of luxury even in death".

  Lao Qian was shocked out of his wits.

  The fragrance draws near to my body, and a lovely smile appears. She gently stretches out her jade-like hand, which is as delicate as the tip of a scallion, sparkling before my eyes.

  As soon as she held my hand, a warm feeling spread through my palm. Aren't ghosts supposed to be cold? This is clearly the temperature of a woman.

  Her rosy lips slightly opened, "Don't let go of my hand, otherwise, if you fall into the valley, I won't save you."

  Lao Qian heard this and hastily stretched out his hand to pull Ling Miao Ran's other hand, but she lightly brushed it away, her eyes hinting for Lao Qian to grab my collar instead.

  The music swelled even more, and white shadows danced in all directions. We rose into the air together, drifting towards that mountain valley filled with flowers.

  A crowd of white shadows, with fragrance swirling around me, the softness in my hands is like melting bones, and the subtle warmth that passes through my hands makes me feel that if it weren't for an unknown fate, this would still be a beautiful and romantic encounter.

  Lao Qian pulled at my collar, grumbling discontentedly, "People like us, yet your father is still my superior, the treatment is different."

  Originally, I was nervous in my heart, but after Old Qian said that, I felt a lot more at ease. Thinking to myself, I still have the copper bell, let's take action when the opportunity arises.

  Before long, they floated down and arrived in front of a cave mansion. The surroundings were even more resplendent with flowers, and a delicate and charming white-clad woman came to greet them.

  The delicate silk was lightly waved, and the cave was wide open. Inside, there came a faint sound of flowing water, accompanied by an even more pleasant fragrance that wafted out.

  A group of women in white clothes knelt down together and said, "We respectfully invite the master of the cave to move his residence into the spiritual realm."

  This is really strange, it's as if our souls have entered another realm, I'm afraid we've become living dead people.

  She gently took my hand and led me into the cave with Old Qian. I suppose this was the legendary Ghost Spirit Cave.

  Although there are rare flowers and strange grasses inside the cave, the fragrance is overwhelming, but I always feel a gloomy chill, cold to the bone.

  Suddenly a mournful cry was heard, making people's hair stand on end. A woman in white appeared to report that she had something to say, but only in the presence of the cave master.

  Out of curiosity, he pulled me along and said let's go take a look together.

  As I approached, it turned out to be a narrow cave, only allowing one person to enter. There was a woman in white clothes, her face covered with bloodstains, her whole body trembling, but her face was pale and terrifying. It seemed that she had just died and hadn't had time to transform into a spirit yet.

  Ling Miao Yan approached and said: "You've admitted it, now speak."

  The girl said: "I've spoken, can you let me return to the spirit world?"

  Ling Miao Yan said: "That's natural, this is the rule of Guilin Cave, it doesn't interfere with other worlds' affairs, but nor does it allow disloyal people."

  The woman said: "I previously took the opportunity to fabricate the matter of the ghostly matchmaker and the lantern-carrying ghost being in love, I let the wind disperse it, and indeed it came true."

  Ling Miao Yan said: "I know this part, credit is credit, fault is fault, you continue with the next part."

  At this time, the woman's whole body was shaking uncontrollably. I also heard about Li Yan and Feng Chenju, so I suddenly became interested. Damn it, could this be related too?

  The woman knelt down and said: "Dongzhu, spare me. It was I who temporarily had a greedy heart and gave birth to greedy thoughts. I listened to the words of the evil spirits and ghosts. I really don't want to go to hell. Dongzhu, have mercy."

  "There are people behind me who are interested in this, you've said that, now think about it." Ling Miao Yan said.

  "Yes, Cave Master, Wind Dust was indeed following the same teachings as you and I had before, without any difference. It was he who first tempted me, saying that after deceiving Ling Jian, he would have his own plans, and as long as I didn't speak out, it would be settled. At that time, he promised to teach me the art of transforming spirits. But I really didn't know that what he called 'his own plans' was actually a pile of white bones. If I had known earlier, I would never have agreed." The woman said.

  "Ah, I'll take over from here. You saw the Wind Dust Residence's Lin Guangyuan kill the Moonlight Forest's master and turn him into a small ghost with white bones. At first, you were shocked, but in reality, you didn't stop him; instead, you continued to fantasize about the method of transmigration. Only when this demon failed to fulfill his promise and took the Spirit Knife for himself did you become enraged. Your anger wasn't towards Lin Guangyuan turning into a ghost, but rather that your own gains were unfulfilled. And my anger lies here as well - I see through people, yet I don't think of doing good; instead, I harbor selfish desires. How can this be tolerated?"

  Good heavens! It turns out there was such a hidden story after all.

  At this time, Ling Miao turned to me and said: "Her life and death are related to you, follow me."